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Performances presented as part of 'Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge'

Chronicles of Amnesia

Film Screening and live music by Mike Cooper (UK), Zai Kuning (Singapore)

4 & 5 May 2018, 8pm

In 2005, Riau, a short film that represented Zai Kuning’s search for the orang laut was premiered at TheatreWorks. While the film has been highly praised and acquired by several institutions, it also marked a departure from the orang laut as Zai was mentally tortured by their predicament of being completely isolated.

Zai’s encounters with the orang laut, however, became the driving force for his artistic inquisition of Malay culture and history which is either misunderstood or forgotten. Chronicles of Amnesia is a new film that documents his encounters with a Mak Yong troupe that was on the verge of disappearance, site visits to the old capitals of the Malay-Srivijiayan empire, and the making of an imagined vessel from the forgotten 7th-century maritime kingdom.

The performance will be a screening of these two films, with live music from Zai and musician Mike Cooper.

These performances are part of 'Dapunta Hyang: Transmission of Knowledge' that runs from 12 April to 13 May 2018 at 72-13. For more information, please visit: https://dapuntahyang2018.wordpress.com

The Artwork

A 17-metre long ship traverses the hall, suspended. As if emerging from the ocean floor, it unloads hundreds of books sealed in beeswax. This is the imagined vessel steered by Dapunta Hyang Sri Jayanasa, the first Malay king of the 7th century Srivijayan Empire. Alongside, portraits of Mak Yong (ancient Malay opera) performers are featured as living witnesses to a history cast in darkness.

In the homecoming of thishighly acclaimed work, audience members can expect to gain fuller insights into a 20-year long journey that has taken the artist to encounter theorang laut (sea people), Mak Yong performers, and the lost world of the Malay kingdom. A performance with musician Mike Cooper will breathe life to a new film, Chronicles of Amnesia, that captures Zai’s extraordinary sojourn. Archaeologist John N. Miksic and art historian T. K. Sabapathy will each give a lecture on the geographical, historical, cultural, and artistic symbols that exist in Dapunta Hyang’s world.

TheatreWorks is proud to present this exceptional work that communicates the urgent need to resurface questions on how knowledge has been transmitted, manipulated and directed across time and space to inform us of our present realities.